Happy Thursday you all! Hope you are having a wonderful week as we gear up towards the Holidays coming up. This is a wonderful time of year to make cookies. I LOVE lemon. Like I could just nibble on little bits of lemon curd. I recently paired lemon with some blueberries, great combination. I also really enjoy lemon with lavender. The key is to have just the perfect amount of lavender. You don’t want it to be too in your face. Or too florally, like you are eating flowers. You want just a touch, so people are intrigued. Hmm… what’s the extra flavor I’m getting? We’re going for curiosity, not disgust.

These cookies are delicious on their own, they are nice and soft, but I added a little glaze to make them a little more festive and to get a tinge more lemon taste. SO good. It is very refreshing. They could be a nice little food gift if you know someone who needs vegan or gluten-free eats.

However, I was designing this recipe for someone interested in collaborating on vegan cookies. They were too soft for freezing or shipping, so they didn’t fit the bill on that. But they are my favorite vegan cookie I made (granted I really enjoyed the ones with white chocolate again- I definitely prefer white chocolate over chocolate). This cookie base could also be used for an assortment of other flavors. Maybe switch the lemon for orange, fold in a few cranberries (that’s a wonderful flavor combo for this season). Or maybe switch the lavender for the thyme and keep the lemon. Or maybe switch the lemon for lime and add some white chocolate. Who knows there are all kinds of different flavors you could do and you could rotate them throughout the year seasonally. Maybe freeze-dried raspberries and white chocolate. Who knows. Get creative with it. Use the flavors YOU like.

Back to yet another component of the delicious Thanksgiving cake I made. I recently started my adventures into truffle making. It all began with a coffee toffee truffle (see the picture below).

For the Thanksgiving cake, however, I wanted something simple, not to over-power the other elements. These were SO easy to make.

The plus of truffles, besides being gorgeous, is that you can make a variety of flavors. Next I really want to make a caramel truffle. All chocolate is a little too rich for my personal taste, but adding other flavors, that would be my style. Maybe a lemon white chocolate. Or chocolate cherry. Or chocolate raspberry. Or a coconut. Or an Almond Joy inspired truffle. Or an orange chocolate, just zest some orange into the ganache. So many options.

I made this beauty of a cake for Thanksgiving. I’ve been branching out of my comfort zone lately too, making things I’ve never made before. I made toffee for the first time EVER a month ago. I am hooked, it is delicious and easy to make. I have been using it for all kinds of things. Firstly, with some truffles (also a first for me). Secondly, with some cookies. And on the naked banana cake I posted yesterday. I’ve also been branching into truffles (as mentioned above and I’ll have an easy recipe to post on Thursday). And I have been really, really working on my macaron abilities (they are so tricky, there are so many areas where you can over/under mix).

I will note that I have no reference of honeycomb to compare this too. But I have been watching a bit (lot) of the British Baking Show and they use honeycomb often. So I have been a little bit eager to try and make some. What is this honeycomb they talk about?

I also have to tell on myself about something else. I do not have a candy thermometer. And I can be a terrible about measuring. I do a lot of baking (and pretty much all cooking) by feeling- which makes posting hard sometimes because I don’t know exactly how much I put in something. I also don’t have an timers. Sorry, it makes it kind of hard to post, but I like it old school. So I can tell you what temperature it’s supposed to go to (because I read it), but I personally just kind of felt my way through this and looked at the color.

I found a traditional honeycomb recipe and tweaked the sugars. And to me it looked like honeycomb and my husband liked it.

Man I have been completely slacking on my posting lately. Evidence being that I made this cake in October for Zach. I have been baking more than I’ve been making new recipes or taking pictures. But I do have some stocked up to share with you. Beginning here.

I have the most amazing husband (see the bearded, Bob Ross-ish haired handsome man above). This cake I made for him. He doesn’t really do celebrating or holidays, his birthday included. However, he entertains me and lets me bake for him anyways (so long as I made one for his frat boys too, which I did). His favorite flavor: banana. I had seen a cinnamon frosting and thought that sounded delicious (recipe adapted from Country Cleaver). I had also recently made my first batch of coffee toffee and had some leftover. So I just sprinkled a little of that over the top. Which was the perfect addition and his favorite part.

I would vote it my favorite gluten-free cake I’ve ever made (although lately I made a sweet potato-molasses-cake which I will be posting). I’ve always focused on making them designed pretty and never really made very many layered cakes. My dear husband sliced this cake for me, so that it had beautiful layers. A perfect amount of frosting to cake each bite.

Happy Wednesday y’all! Sorry it’s been so long since I posted, been super busy baking it up and trying to expand my market, developing new recipes. I do a stock pile of recipes to share with you all, though. Today, though, I had to start with this one for Loaded Cauliflower Casserole.

I prepped this on a Saturday, it was super easy, and then just baked in on a Sunday afternoon for the Lions game (my husband is from Michigan, meaning they are die-hard Lions fans). It was so simple, yet so good.

My husband may have even tricked my sister-in-law into eating it. She may be a slightly picky eater, so he told her after eating it, that it was cauliflower and not potatoes. And she did say it was good, so I would consider that a win!

I added chicken for some added protein and so I could make just one single dish. I love one skillet or one dish meals. It makes cleaning up a lot nicer too.

I think I’ve been using cauliflower as a potato substitute for almost a decade now. And I have mashed everything. One day I tried: rutabaga, parsnips, turnips and celery root. I’ve also mashed sweet potatoes several times, but even though I like color, the bright orange is not appealing to me as side. And the rutabagas and such were tasty, but the cauliflower is hands-down the best.

One year for Thanksgiving I made them, and my uncles ate them, thinking they were potatoes. They loved them and requested them for the next year.

I usually like to whip them up with either butter or cream cheese or sour cream. They give them a lovely texture.

But I saw a mash with Gouda and I had to give it a try. I love some Gouda and it was so easy. AND it was a perfect side dish for yesterday’s Crispy Honey Garlic Chicken.

I’ll have more to come with cauliflower mash Thursday, as well. I used them in a loaded casserole. It was so good, my husband went for thirds. And between him, me, and my sister-in-law, Mary, we crushed the whole thing.